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Below is a video and transcript of the Bishop's speech.

"Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.

O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.

33 comments:

Anonymous
said...

this is a disgrace! please use the link provided above to email HBO and tell them how you feel. i feel like s**t. i most of all wanted to see Robinson, as a tiny balance to the despicable rick warren. i think Robinson is a wonderful, truly spiritual man. HBS sucks.j. davis

President-Elect Obama in his stirring speech on the Mall stated "...gay or straight..."After being in awe at HBO's coverage of the celebration then learning of their squashing of the invocation by the archbishop, I can only say "Shame on HBO".

It wasn't just HBO. CNN & MSNBC & CSPAN were all covering the day's events and completely talked over the invocation with no mention of Bishop Robinson. Not to mention, the Obama & Biden families weren't even seated until after Bishop Robinson spoke. I sent emails to change.gov, HBO, CNN, & MSNBC. I'll be emailing the White House on Tuesday.

I thought it was ironic that in the concert they quoted an interview with Rosa Parks when she said about her decision not to move to the back of the bus: "The only tired I was, was tired of giving in." I think the LGBT community is tired of giving in. Raise your voices!

Thank you soo much for posting his words. I am heartbroken that I did not see it -- I turned off CNN for HBO so I would not have to listen to the announcers -- and where was Gene? He is an amazing man, someone I have known since I was a child, and his eloquence was not given its due, either in the celebration or the broadcast. I emailed HBO, but it is also sad that the Obama and Biden families did not get the full benefit of his gaze and words. How sad.

Thank you for posting this. My mother--a life-long Episcopalian who did not go Anglican--and I turned on the TV specifically to see Bishop Robinson. We were very disappointed and not just with HBO. CNN, MSNBC, and even C-SPAN all chose to show pundits rather than prayers.

I was at the national mall for the concert, about 1/2 a mile from the Lincoln Memorial, and the moment Gene Robinson took to the stage, the speakers went out. We couldn’t hear a word of the entire invocation. Of course minutes before when Elmo was on the jumbotrons speaking about unity, everything was fine. The moment the gay bishop takes to the stage suddenly there is technical issues. Of course when I get home I find out that HBO cut Gene Robinson from the footage. It’s really horrible and sad. I really don’t think it was a “day of unity” for everyone.

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

I've written HBO and told them that, owing to the gravity of this omission, they had better issue a satisfactory explanation and apology by Tuesday morning or I would call by cable provider and cancel HBO. And I will, too! I suggest that other queers do the same. I will also write to the White House the moment Obama is president and tell him he needs to try again to mend fences with his gay constituents, as his first effort was a total flop. I didn't know about the Gay Men's Chorus; that just adds insult to ... insult. Ironically, two of the major musical components were written by a gay national treasure, Aaron Copland--but who knows he was gay except other gays? As usual, the "we" included us only as long as we appeared straight in public. Bad show!

Here's what I sent to HBO:I want to know why Bishop Gene Robinson's opening prayer was not included in the program you aired. Granted I'm not particularly religious but I AM a member of the LGBT community and I must protest the blatant shove to the back of the bus...Oh, btw, I had to go to a friend's to see the program because I haven't paid for your programming in years. Now I know why.

Snubbed. There will be excuses, there always are. If HBO was going to telecast the whole show, that is what they should have done. It's almost like the Tonight Show or Letterman starting after the monologue. If Bishop Robinson was part of the program, then he should have been part of HBO's broadcast. One step forward, two back. Sorry to say, things are not going to change. Dogma's have hindered equality for centuries. Dogma is a prominent word when discussing equality.

NEWSFLASH -- Just in… it seems that Roy and Silo, the two Gay chinstrap penguins from the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan are to be reunited and flown to the South Pole after officials on the Obama transition team gave them permission to hold a pre-inaugural ceremony and prayer for Obama in Antarctica.

These Gay love birds have been carefully chosen to be joint Masters of Ceremony at this glorious celebration commemorating our new Fuhrer. And like Bishop Robinson‘s egg-hunt at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, this event will also be held several days before the “real” inauguration, and far enough away, so as not to generate too much press attention and stress for the incoming Obama administration.

The theme of this occasion, as well as the Ball following it (which was generously arranged by the HRC at the South Pole) will be titled: “Out of Sight; Out of Mind In Our New Obama Nation”.

Rainbow-colored leg-warmers and sequined purple parkas are being furnished, free of charge, by Uncle Tom’s Fashion Wear; while the US Military has volunteered to fly in and to air-drop guests at the event (parachutes, of course, are optional).

Entertainment will be provided by Ellen DeGeneres doing her famous “Step ‘em, Fetch it” dance routine to be taped and telecasted later for her post-menopausal hetero plantation mamas; while music will be furnished by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir which will be handing out magic underwear and free “sexual re-orientation” tickets to heaven after the event.

Finally, refreshments will consist of good old fashion Jim Jones Kool-Aid -- complements of both the Democratic and Republican Members of the House and the Senate.

A great time is expected to be had by all.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

UPDATE: All major news-outlets did not report on this event either, because Brittany Spears was spotted getting out of her car not wearing underwear again. Meanwhile, HBO is trying desperately to deny rumors that Gay writers, directors and actors are responsible for their most successful cable TV series, past and present, (i.e. True Blood, Six Feet Under, etc.). It seems that a rebellion by the GLBT slaves on the Entertainment Plantation has been averted. Corporate Media GLBT blackout has restored invisibility regarding the insurrectionists. The Job security weapon was efficiently used for GLBT crowd control.

Now for the weather report:The political forecast for incoming President Obama: Sunny and Status Quo with intermitted ass-kissing; precipitated by White Guilt.

Really? Is this some part of a vast conspiracy to hold the gays down, or is it a simple oversight? There's no evidence that this was done intentionally at all. People pay to watch HBO to be enterntained. They don't pay to watch people pray.

Stuff like this doesn't happen by "accident". This was orchestrated and people shouldn't look to HBO, this was planned by the OBAMA TEAM, from the cutting out of the mic locally to making sure only HBO had tv airing rights so it would be that much easier to technically have Gene on but then be able to say "Oops we guess HBO made an oversight, and all after we made sure that Gene could speak, sorry!" And it doesn't take a genius to guess that homophobe Rick Warren's invocation will be carried by ALL networks and have NO mic problems whatsoever. We queers really have to learn to become more collectively p**sed on a sustainable level and not let this crap slide anymore. We won't have equal rights or be treated equally unless we demand it. It's just so sad to see this day of equality so fully tainted.

I googled "Bishop Robinson video" and your blog was right near the top. Thank you for posting the video and his words....it moved me to years and was really powerful. I was waiting to see his speech after hearing he would be included. I'm a straight, white female but his words spoke to me. They speak to all of us. It seems his exclusion was a direct contradiction of the whole message of the day. I feel like everyone watching from home truly missed out.

I want to know why Bishop Gene Robinson's opening prayer was not included in the program you aired covering the Inauguration of President Obama. I must protest the blatant shove to the back of the bus for the LGBT community. Owing to the gravity of this omission,I expect a satisfactory apology and airing of the prayer by Tuesday or I will call by Surewest and cancel HBO Multiplex.

As to the omission of the prayer, I would not blame Obama. After all, he has included the gays in many speeches and did so during the weekend. I would say it had more to do with HBO, but they regularly have controversial programming, so that is questionable also.

As to defining the choir, the only choir I remember being identified was the one that Tiger Woods introduced. The others were not identified either. I will say that on liberal blogs it was mentioned who they were and the bloggers were very supportive.

HBO blames the incident on the bigot who began his campaign with Donnie McClurkin, ended it with Warren and on the way torpedoed our effort to defeat prop 8 when he said "god's in the mix". Obama is his name.

Are you completely ignoring the fact that most Americans would have been appalled at the gay bishop's prayer? Obama and his team are not idiots, they wanted to distance themselves from all things LGBT. The exclusion was entirely intentional.